30k gallon pool - Christmas Heating Experience

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david_

Bronze Supporter
May 22, 2022
74
DFW
Pool Size
29800
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Have family in town, and have been wanting to attempt a whole-pool heat since we got the heater a year ago. I started it 10:00 AM yesterday (23 hours running so far) and I'm +27 degrees this morning. Started at 56, and targeting 90 in pool, and 98 in hot tub. Doesn't help we had one of our coolest nights last night and I don't have a cover. She was steaming this morning. Still, with any luck, I'll be at 90 around lunchtime.

Was surprised to see my propane usage. Started around 70% full (350 gallons) and am down to 45%, having used about 125 gallons. Still, should be enough to get me there. Will be interesting to see how long that heat stays in the pool. FWIW I'm paying $2.75/gallon of propane with my distributor, so it'll be about $20 per person. :)
 
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Do you have an autofill?

Be interesting to hear how much evaporation the heating causes. But it will not be visible with an autofill.
 
david_ said:
No, but my guess is that I'm down about an inch (maybe slightly under) in the last 24 hrs.
Click to expand...

Cold nights with a heated pool often lead people to think they have a leak. You are giving a good demonstration how evaporation increases the larger the temperature differential.

Watch your FC level and get it on the high side for your CYA. That warm water and high bather load can consume FC rapidly and let algae take hold.
 
david_ said:
Have family in town, and have been wanting to attempt a whole-pool heat since we got the heater a year ago. I started it 10:00 AM yesterday (23 hours running so far) and I'm +27 degrees this morning. Started at 56, and targeting 90 in pool, and 98 in hot tub. Doesn't help we had one of our coolest nights last night and I don't have a cover. She was steaming this morning. Still, with any luck, I'll be at 90 around lunchtime.

Was surprised to see my propane usage. Started around 70% full (350 gallons) and am down to 45%, having used about 125 gallons. Still, should be enough to get me there. Will be interesting to see how long that heat stays in the pool. FWIW I'm paying $2.75/gallon of propane with my distributor, so it'll be about $20 per person. :)
Click to expand...
The proper fill for a 500 gallon tank is 400 gallons. Propane should always be filled using the 80/20 ratio, 80% full with 20% capacity left for expansion. So, 70% would be 280 gallons. Your heater uses 4 gallons per hour +/-. So, after 27 hours you only have about 172 gallons if nothing else used the propane, like a home furnace, stove, water heater, etc. Be aware that the gauges on propane tanks are, basically, just a rough estimate of what is actually in the tank, because they are reading vapor pressure, not the actual liquid level.

Don't let your tank get much lower as the amount of gas that will actually be available to the heater will drop. Its an issue with pool heaters that require large amounts of gas. That can cause sooting of the heat exchanger and then other issues with the heater. And you never want to let your tanks run completely dry. A gauge can read 5% but the tanks be completely empty.

Used to deal with this issue on a commercial property that routinely let the tanks run out. Had to de-soot the heat exchanger at least once a year for 4 years. It wasn't a cheap process, but the management company wouldn't fill the tanks regularly and always seemed willing to pay to get the heater working again. And, fortunately, it wasn't a heater like yours with a "buried" heat exchanger.
 
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The pool was 88 by afternoon swim, and 90 by the evening which was very comfortable in the 40 degree weather we had. Had 6 adults and 8 kids in there for hours. (y)

Heater did great and I ended up at about 41% full on my tank. Will order refill today and make sure my FC is in a good spot. Pool is still 80 degrees this AM.

I think I was moving some gas:

PXL_20231226_191932829.jpg
 
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